Means for joining railway-rails.



T. lVl. DANIELS.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

THOMAS MARION DANIELSMOF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification of` Letters Patent.

MEANS FOR J' OIN ING RAILWAY-RAILS.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

Application med rune 11, 1915. lseriai N0.`33,4s7.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS M. DANIELS, a citizen of the United States,'and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certainv new and useful Improvements in Means for'Joining Railway-Rails, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to means for joining rails on continuous railway tracks, and one of the main objects thereof is to provide means for connecting the adjacent ends of rails together" without the use of bolts or nutsnow generally employed a further objectis to provide such rail connecting means which are maintained inpositive engagement with the rails by automatically taking up any looseness or slackness which may be caused by wear due to the vibration of the parts; a further-object is to provide gravity actuated means for accomplishing the last named accommodation of the parts to changconditions; a further object is to provide means for preventing the accidental displacement of the parts or of the displacement thereof by means likely to be carried by mischievous or malicious persons; and further objects are to provide such means which are simple in construction and installation, positive in result, well adapted to the purpose for which they are intended, and comparatively inexpensive.

My invention is fully described in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form apart, in which like characters refer to like parts in each of the views, and in which Figure 1 is a plan view of two rails joined by means of my invention; Fig. 2 1s an enlarged, detached, perspective, view of the bed plate or shoe which I employ; Fig. 3 is a similar view of a substitute for the conventional {ish-plate which I employ; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

My invention comprises a shoe 5 havmg a basev 6, a member 7 integral-therewith provided with transversely directed knobs 8,

' and a member 9'arranged parallelwith the member 7 also integral with said base, the member 9 having an inner inclined face provided with longitudinally and horizontally arranged teeth 10, downwardly directed, and a plurality of stops 11 at the lower inier side thereof.; the member 7 overhangs the'base 6 to provide a tapered recess 12 adapted to receive one of the flanges of the foot of a rail 13, said flange being designated 14 in the drawings, the knobs 8 being so located as to pass into the conventional bolt holes 15 in the web of the rails, and the member 7 is of such height as to bear against the under side of the tread 16 of the rails; the upper edge of the member 7 is downwardly inclined toward the center of the device to correspond to the conformation of the rails and I prefer to provide vbrace `members 17 on the exterior of both -members 7 and 9 to minimize the weight inclined face provided. with complemental teeth 20 and a toe portion provided with recesses 21 adapted to receive the respective ones of the stops 11 to prevent longitudinal movement of the plate 19 on the base (l although capable of transverse movement thereon. After the rails have been placed in end contact on the base 6 and forced into the position clearly shown in Fig. 4, the plate 19 is installed and a toothed wedge Q2 forced downwardly in the space between the member 9 and the plate 19, the upwardly directed teeth on the wedge member engaging with the respective teeth on the member 9 and plate 19 and the rails are thus locked rmly in place against any possibility of movement with respect to the' base 6.

By reference to Fig. it Willbe noted that I provide a boss 23 at each end of the bosses serve to prevent longitudinal displacement of the wedge 22 after it has been installed except by force, as by means of repeated blowsA from a heavy maul, thereby preventing separation of the rails'by mischievous persons and by malicious persons who would not be provided with such mauls under ordinary circumstances, my connecting means being proof against displacement in greater measure than' the conventional means because of the ease of removal of nuts and bolts, probably already loosened by the vibration of trains passing thereover. Certainly no accidental separation of the connected rails is possible, and there is no need for track-walkers services in tightening nuts as is now necessary.

Because of the downward inclinatlon of the teeth on the member 9 and plate 19, and the upward inclinationv of the teeth on the wedge 22, said wedgev is not only easily installed and locked against vertical displacement, but the weight of the wedge forces the plate 19 and the rails in the direction of the member? in the vibration of the parts by trains on said rails, regardless of the amount of wear on the contacting parts due to such vibration,within the limits of the device.

It will thus be`seen that a positive lock is provided for adjacent rails in a continuous track, which lock is quickly and easily installed without tools as far as its connection with the rails is concerned, and which automatically compensates for wear on the parts thereof or on the rails at the points of contact, and no separation of the rails can occur until the wedge is driven longitudinally out of its seat, one or the other lof the bosses 23 requiring to be backwardly sprung for such wedge release; these bossesmay be cast or otherwise formed on the shoe 5 or they may be formed by merely upsetting the ends of the member 9 at the ends thereof in the path of the longitudinal movement of the wedge. The structural details shown maybe modilied within the scope of the following claims, as will be understood.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1.l The combination with two adjacent rails, of a shoe, means thereon for preventing vertical and longitudinal movement of said rails, a toothed member on said shoe, av

member and plate, and means for resisting longitudinal removal of said wedge.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS MARION DANIELS.'

Witnesses:

JOHN A. GANGHAN, ED. SUNDALENE. 

